According to a senior Russian military commander, a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile is capable of delivering many hypersonic warheads. The Russian military's Strategic Missile Forces commander, Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, claimed in televised remarks that the new Sarmat ICBM is designed to carry several Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles.

        The Sarmat was test-fired for the first time Wednesday from the Plesetsk launch complex in northern Russia, and its practice warheads successfully hit simulated targets on the Kura firing range in the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, according to Russia's Defense Ministry. The test comes amid rising tensions between Moscow and the West over Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, highlighting the Kremlin's focus on the country's nuclear weapons.

        The launch of the Sarmat missile was hailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a tremendous success, with Putin asserting that the new missile has no international counterpart and is capable of breaching any potential missile defense. "This really unique weapon will improve our military forces' fighting capabilities, reliably safeguard Russia's security from foreign threats, and make those who try to attack our nation in the heat of feverish hostile rhetoric think twice," Putin said on Wednesday.

        The Sarmat is a heavy missile that has been under development for some years to replace the Soviet-made Voyevoda, which is the heart of Russia's nuclear deterrence and was code-named Satan by the West. The Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than sound and executing quick twists on its route to target to avoid the enemy's missile shield, according to the military.

        The new hypersonic vehicle has been installed to existing Soviet-built ICBMs in preparation for the deployment of the Sarmat, and the first unit armed with the Avangard went into service in December 2019. Vladimir Degtyar, the director and lead designer of the Makeyev missile company that built the Sarmat, claimed in televised remarks that the missile's range allowed it to travel along any route across the north or south poles and attack any target anywhere on the planet.